Duke won although it was a bit jittery. Florida rolled. Bama couldn’t miss in a blowout. And Arkansas blew a huge lead and Texas Tech made them pay for it. The other 4 games are tonight. And baseball is underway. So let me introduce you to your division-leading Chicago White Sox. I may not get to say that for another year, but this morning I can. The Astros won to open the year as well. And that’s it for sports.
Good. But please, don’t stop there. Burn every single pubsec union to the ground.
Good. But please, don’t stop there. Burn every single department to the ground.
Good. But please don’t stop there. Burn ev…you know where I’m going with this.
Good. But please don’t stop there. End their ability to issue any form of currency at all.
Good. But please don’t stop there. Once they’re combined, eliminate them altogether. Well, at lease the ATF part. Sorry if I sound like a broken record this morning. But I’m on a roll.
What a coincidence. This guy seemingly gets all the good cases. Also, how does that group even have standing? This lawsuit sounds absurd.
Christ, what an asshole. But who will cut his lawn and pick his crops, right? So I guess he might have a (racist) point.
Christ, what an asshole. Isn’t he busy enough running the Raiders franchise? He’s got to work an office job as well?
What a bizarre case. I wonder why Biden locked him up to begin with.
This is gonna be bad. Prayers for those poor people.
This really was a one hit wonder. Don’t call me out like you (rightfully) did yesterday. As was this. Enjoy them both. Maybe I’ll come up with better ones next week. Or at least write myself a note of the ones I randomly remember that are better than those so I don’t make you suffer.
And enjoy this lovely Friday and weekend, dear friends.
*cleans phonograph needle*
Oh, the record isn’t broken, just rhyming.
Say wut?
Wut
The needle was probably skipping and causing repeats (‘rhyming’)?
Hasa la vista… baby.
“Good. But please, don’t stop there. Burn every single pubsec union to the ground.”
Before team blue went all rogue and evil, even FDR knew pubsec unions were anathema to having a government with a modicum of pretense it was serving the American people.
I initially missed the typo as I was trying to mentally work out whether there was going to be a tsunami and what areas would get hit.
Oops. Fixed.
“Good. But please, don’t stop there. Burn every single department to the ground.”
We need to go much further than that. Congress should pass legislation that requires every government entity to prove they are doing the work they are there to accomplish every 5-10 years, with everyone in that entity getting fired every 10 years unless they accomplish their goal at which point, the entity is dissolved anyway.
No, every employee that works in the federal bureaucracy, which should be much smaller than it is, should only be allowed toward in any government unelected job for a maximum of 5 years total, and there should be no retirement and benefits should be on par with private sector jobs, with exceptions being made for VA medical staff.
Working for the feds should not be a career.
Once you introduce one exception, more will be added.
I would agree that starting with removing all retirement benefits from government work other than first responders, would be a YUGE step in the right direction. Also make it illegal for people making government laws themselves, or having relatives, do stock market trading. I think we won’t stop all the crooks, but it will turn off the grand majority.
Why would there be VA medical staff? Give the vets vouchers or insurance cards and close the VA.
Except you know they’ll exempt themselves… and I can’t think of a government entity that is doing their job less these days…
“unless they accomplish their goal”
Which pushes the questions back to “what is their goal” and “what counts as accomplishing it”. Goals are easily written as motion/process, progress/accomplishment.
Wittgenstein wrote about the impossibility of creating a set of rules that could not be miss-interpreted. In the final analysis there is nothing you can do today which someone else cannot undo tomorrow. That is what the Eternal Vigilance quote means, and why Republics require virtuous citizens.
and why Republics require virtuous citizens
and are doomed to fail.
Yes, but that does not distinguish them from other forms of social organization.
other forms of social organization
Exactly. All organizations reflect the underlying flaws of humanity.
Wait a minute. So there is no New Randian Man that pays the correct amount of taxes voluntarily and then goes home to have some rough trade with his wife?
If all organizations are doomed to fail, then no organization is doomed to fail. They only fail under their own terms.
Entropy is constant, and makes no difference because of this.
If all organizations are doomed to fail, then no organization is doomed to fail.
Sorry, this is simply incorrect. The ‘failure’ isn’t baked into the organization. It is baked into us humans. Neither JI or I is saying anything novel here, all of this has been said a thousand times before by much wiser people than I am. A Republic lasts as long as enough of the citizens put the commonweal ahead of their personal advantage in a variety of ways. The ways range from the simple willingness to defend the Republic against external enemies to the more complicated willingness to forgo the wealth, privilege and advantages that can be voted to segments of the population.
This is also not unique to Republics. There are temptations that destroy monarchies, aristocracies etc. The uniqueness of the Republic is that it offers the best framework for individual liberty, so when it fails it looks a bit different than the other forms when they fail. A monarchy failing often just takes the form of a dynastic change.
In fact, monarchy itself reflects the underlying flaw of humanity – we demand social hierarchy – whether the monarch is a tyrant or benevolent.
Is it a flaw?
Non-heriarchical systems don’t scale and tend to fail at a higher rate than well-ordered heirarchical ones. This may actually be an evolutionary advantage which separated our ancestors from rival proto-hominids who proved unable to compete with the better organized prehuman bands.
“Good. But please don’t stop there. End their ability to issue any form of currency at all.”
If you ever wondered about that whole biblical thing about the mark of the devil, this shit has to be it.
“What a coincidence. This guy seemingly gets all the good cases. Also, how does that group even have standing? This lawsuit sounds absurd. How does the plaintiff even have standing?”
I am hoping congress defends the entire federal D.C. court. Maybe the NYC one too.
I suspect you meant defunds — though half of Congress doubtless will defend them, yes.
DEFUNDS, yes.
Congress can flat out abolish it. The supreme Court exists because of the Constitution, the lesser courts are Congressional creations.
Good — but don’t stop there… maybe do the Afternoon links on this theme as well!
::polite applause::
Be like a Browns fan, keep on hoping. 🙂
I don’t like being let down.
Lions fans say hold my beer.
SarumanTheGreat:
At least no one stole your team.
I will once again be pulling for a Lions/Browns Superbowl. Preferably played in Buffalo.
Or alternatively, Vikings-Bills Superbowl in Detroit.
“Christ, what an asshole. Isn’t he busy enough running the Raiders franchise? He’s got to work an office job as well?”
Would this be considered worst than the illegal alien that kept dipping his wang in the drinks for all the ladies at the office he worked at, giving them all sorts of venereal presents, and even causing one or more some horrible organ problems, because he also peed in their drinks, I recently saw?
Mastantuono categorized this case as ‘unusual’ and highly uncommon.
They’re the same thing. They’re identical.
When it comes to public records — every citizen should have standing.
You and I both know the de facto rule though — “If it hurts my political enemies, you have standing. If not or (Chief Nazgul Rule) I don’t want to deal with this shit… you don’t. Or it is too late. Or you won’t have standing until after it is too late. Whatever works.”
What’s the time frame for turning these types of records over to the national archives? When does the public have access to them? Are they due on a daily basis? Unless they’d generally have access to them right away, then the plaintiff doesn’t have standing because they haven’t been denied anything.
Their standing comes when the government doesn’t comply with the law. And there’s no evidence that’s happened here, from an FOIA respect. Not at this point in time.
Article is written weirdly. Is the group asking the courts or suing the government?
I assume the argument for standing is that the archival time doesn’t matter if they aren’t properly retained.
Not that any of that mattered when data was wiped… like with a cloth. Or the hard drives mysteriously crashed for the IRS. Or whatnot.
I assume the argument for standing is that the archival time doesn’t matter if they aren’t properly retained.
That opens up the door to frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit. It’s a sure fire way to tie up government resources and the courts if somebody wanted to. Hell, they could just sue the admin on a daily basis in multiple
jurisdictions with myriad claims that they have to retain records for which there’s no evidence the records haven’t been or won’t be retained in the proper manner. The timing is ridiculous and the judge would have not granted them standing if he understood or cared about the concept. Not at this time anyway.
“Feature, not bug.” from those wishing to hamstring the opposition.
Is that even possible? The snippet of conversation I saw said the Signal retention was set to one week. The judgement happened more than a week after that. So all that probably exists is whatever snippets the Atlantic has.
If they combine DEA and ATF will they call it DEAF?
Bitching…
Tobacco Enforcement, Alcohol, Ballistics Auditing Group.
They’ll be placing themselves all over the American people.
DAFT: Drugs, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco.
But then they’d have nothing but punks trying to apply.
DTF. They are always down to fuck us all.
Can’t use that. That’s the Department of Tax and Finance here in New York.
Ok, you win. The New York taxing authority fucks more people than the ATF.
It’s hardly fair that a single agency should get to have all the fun.
At the last Finnish Brutality, the competitors got a class on making breaching charges. That is an unfair amount of fun,
!!!
Finns, bruh.
Can we arrive at a name that acronymizes to DIAF?
Drugs, Incendiaries, Alcohol, & Firearms?
DEAF T. They’ll have some wicked beats for the geriatric crowd.
This really was a one hit wonder.
Apparently, they appear in the concert scenes of Grizzly II, which because of its provenance is a movie that absolutely needs to be seen. It’s apparently available on some of the FAST services, but not Tubi.
I gave up caring about halfway through — but it looks like the authorities started taking interest in 2016 “after his drug conviction”… so maybe just legacy Trump era proceedings and the Biden AutoPen Aides didn’t notice to throw open his jail cell because they were bringing in so many other drug gangs?
The bullshit is the govt changed its mind. Nope, once you decided he was a citizen, no take-backs.
There are statutory exceptions, such as when an immigrant lied in their application, where there are grounds for revocation as part of their punishment.
I recall a case where a terrorist academic was punted back to the middle east for failing to disclose a prior murder conviction in Israel when applying to enter the US.
I don’t know the facts in the particular case referenced in the links, but loss of naturalization is possible.
Reading the article makes my head hurt.
The reporter did not do a good job in clarifying the arguments.
Appeals to emotion rarely do.
Definitely one of those that goes through your mind from time to time as “That was weird, even at the time..” — then you forget about it for another 3 years and move on with your day.
Oh… that’s that song… I think I only heard it as background in an ’80s movie never the actual song (Ferris Bueller is my gut instinct…. but it may just have a bassline too close to Yello or something).
And obligatory to your theme — though they certainly weren’t, of course.
Ferris Bueller is my gut instinct
You, sir, are correct.
Babylon Bee had an article about Musk putting a big “Tesla” sign in the IRS building.
https://babylonbee.com/news/elon-musk-disguises-irs-building-as-tesla-dealership-so-democrats-will-burn-it-down
Maybe they should try that I’m with other agencies.
Ha! His sense of humor is great.
So there are Democrats with a clue; maybe they can tackle policy as well.
And as long as the media attention is working in concert with those urban progressives, the Democrats are screwed, because you can’t convince someone to support your party when the mouthpieces of your party are doing that shit.
As much as I loathe both main parties, just the Democrats a bit more, it would be nice to see at least a subgroup of them return to something resembling sanity. I wish them luck.
In Pennsyltucky, Gov. Shapiro and Sen. Fetterman are trying, and largely succeeding, in resembling sanity.
Fetterman’s brush with death impacted him for the good in my opinion. I still politically disagree with 90% of his positions of course…
I keep hearing the Brits and other Eurotrash talk about how they don’t need the U.S. and how they are going build up a massive military to kick Russian ass. Then this headline – the last steel blast furnaces in the UK (already Chinese owned) are closing. I seem to remember a lot of stuff in the military was made out of steel – my gun, ammo, armor, vehicles, ships…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/27/british-steel-scunthorpe-blast-furnaces-closure-plans-job-risk
Isnt this their every-5-years or so ‘we need a military’ speech anyway?
Good. Protect yourselves
*clears throat*
Europe Is Short of Gunpowder and TNT When It Needs Them Most
The thing is, if they actually do manage a win the Russians consider, rightly or wrongly, the war to be existential. If they do actually manage to win the nukes will fly and we’ll all lose and, no, working that issue into the equation doesn’t make you a pussy.
They are bound and determined to get WWIII one way or another.
It fell victim to the “Scunthorpe Problem.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem
It can be a slippery problem.
There are some funny examples in there.
This was my favorite example:
Was the person decorating the cake that stupid or was it a mindless following of store policy?
Depends on where. Many Publix bakeries in SoFL are filled with ladies who don’t speak a lick of English and just flows with whatever manager says.
Guess who is the “arsenal of democracy?”
I wonder what happened to my Sigue Sigue Sputnik 12″? Probably tossed by my parents along with the others I left at the house.
TIL that was produced by Giorgio Moroder.
That earthquake (and their building codes) looks terrible.
https://x.com/RT_com/status/1905602679482515927
They look like scenes from a bad movie.
https://x.com/RT_com/status/1905596548953600072
So looking at the regulations of the Presidental Records Act, if using non-official electronic communications, the president has 20 days to enter those into the record.
So ya, not seeing how they have standing here.
But we are where we are
Standing is only used to cull inconvenient cases, when it’s something the establishment wants to press there’s no such thing. It’s a very important concept the corruptocracy likes to keep in its back pocket.
Judge Boasberg: Yes, it is quite the “coincidence” isn’t it?
Yesterday I watched the last Switch 1 Direct before next week’s big Switch 2 Direct (Basically Nintendo’s sale pitch videos direct to the customer instead of doing convention/trade show presentations)
It was fairly lackluster. The big things were already known to be coming, and didn’t get a set release date. The little things were, well, little things, so didn’t get much hype from me.
I suppose the most interesting thing was the info on the “virtual game cart” mechanism for handling moving digital downloads between systems. It was clearly created to help migrate libraries to the Switch 2, but the 2 system maximum limit seems odd when there are three models of Switch 1 on the market (original, lite and OLED). But the “loan it to family for two weeks” feature was interesting until I found you had to pre-define the set of users who are your ‘family’.
I still don’t know why I’m irrationally hyped for the Switch 2 when objectively there’s no killer app for me.
The Switch game cards are aimed primarily at families (or friend groups using family sharing). Under the old system, if you bought a digital game, anyone could play it on the purchasers main system, but only the purchaser could play it on other systems. With the virtual game cards, you can “loan” it to another system to allow any user on the system to play the game, just like if you loaned them the physical cart.
I just don’t care for the “you have to set up your family sharing group ahead of time” part.
I also belong to multiple non-overlapping social circles I wouldn’t want to lump into a single sharing group.
“Burn ev…you know where I’m going with this…”
No, I don’t know where you’re going, but you’re not goin’ w me.
*Squint intensifies*
“Georgia bagpiper dies in Hawaii scuba accident days before missing son’s skeletal remains found in backyard treehouse”
https://nypost.com/2025/03/28/us-news/georgia-bagpiper-dies-in-hawaii-scuba-accident-days-before-missing-sons-skeletal-remains-found-in-backyard-treehouse/
I hate when that happens.
Intentional self-punishment?
Who imported the MadLibs module into the article generation AI again, dammit!
“Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused in a new lawsuit of forcing a male photographer to give him oral sex on the set of a commercial — with the promise of helping his “career take off.””
https://nypost.com/2025/03/28/us-news/sean-diddy-combs-forced-male-photographer-to-perform-oral-sex-lawsuit/
That sounds a bit gay.
Forcing is doing a lot of work in a situation where some dude prostituted himself for an i.o.u.
What kind of self-respecting rapper wouldn’t have had a gun handy?
My thought exactly, Jarflax.
“It’s not gay if you’re the top”
Ah, the Greek version of gay wins the day.
STEVE SMITHECULES NOD IN AGREEMENT.
John Doe – yeah, I’d want anonymity if I was pressing that lame ass claim.
Re: derivative citizen guy:
“I came to the United States when I was 12 years old, with a permanent residence”
Okay, and then?
“Lopez entered the United States as a legal permanent resident in 1992. His mother naturalized in 1998, when he was 16, theoretically granting him automatic citizenship under 8 U.S. Code 1432, which was in effect at the time.
Now the legal framework for that type of citizenship is the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, which says the general requirements for eligibility are that a person must be the child of a parent who is a natural born or a naturalized U.S. citizen (including an adoptive parent) and must be under age 18 and a lawful permanent resident. In addition, the child must reside in the United States “in the lawful and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent.”
Wait, was he 12 in 1992 or was he 10???
Either this reporter f’ed up (most likely) or these people can’t get their story straight.
“Now the legal framework for that type of citizenship is the Child Citizenship Act of 2000”
The legal framework for events in 1992 and 1998 is a law from 2000?
Somebody is playing fast and loose with the rules.
Then he did some crimes and some time, again it isn’t clear how his age and the dates of things line up.
“his parents were never married. All of that works to prove that he’s an American.”
Just sending their absolute best.
The legal docs make things (slightly) clearer:
https://casetext.com/case/lopez-v-doe-7
It’s complicated, to say the least.
My brain started to hurt parsing that article. I didn’t notice the age discrepancy (where it sounds like he might have actually been 18 when his mother naturalized, oops) but did notice the “why would the 2000 law have any bearing?” part. Then it got into the Salvadorian bastardy laws and their interaction with the naturalization acts, and I gave up.
“Defensive tackle Desmond Watson could become the heaviest player ever drafted after stunning scouts at Florida’s pro day on Thursday.
The 6ft 6ins, 464-pound prospect was lauded by teammates and coaches after he benched 225lbs a whopping 36 times.
That topped any bench-press performance at this year’s NFL combine. Watson also covered the 40-yard dash in 5.93s and recorded 25ins in the vertical jump.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-14545149/Florida-Desmond-Watson-NFL-record-weight-revealed-draft.html
Damn.
That’s a sizable fellow.
464 lbs and 25″ vertical? That’s more impressive than the benchpress.
Yes. The defensive plan will be for him to jump up and block out the sun so the quarterback can’t see where to throw the ball.
Sean Peyton would know how to use him! Line him up over the opponent’s best O-lineman on the first snap, have him jump up and come down on their plant leg. 15 yards on play one is a small price for a dozen pressures and sacks the rest of the game.
Looks like there’s a lot of blubber to go with all that muscle. Get him under 400 lbs, and I don’t see how his performance doesn’t improve.
He’ll never be drafted after running his go-kart onto those Teslas the other day.
I was seeing suggestions for youtube videos talking about this but they were all by crackpot-sounding channels, so I didn’t watch any. My hypotheses are either “Natural”, “Instrumentation issue”, or “Lovecraft was right!“
At least they aren’t claiming remote viewing.
“We detected it through Technomancy!”
I am no expert on ground penetrating radar systems, but last I knew they did have issues beyond a shallow depth. So I take the claim with a grain of salt.
There’s likely something there but who the hell knows what. The insane Weird-Hair-Ancient-Aliens-Guy level speculation isn’t helpful though.
My money is split between “false positive” and “natural feature”.
I simply do not see them digging an artifical cavern that deep in that rock. Even today we only dig tunnels like that chasing gold and diamonds.
There actually a natural cave system under the Giza plateau that was expanded on in early or predynastic times.
https://pocketsights.com/tours/place/Tomb-of-the-Birds-41831:4903
Probably that would be my guess if it’s not a false positive or a hoax.
Well, it is limestone, which is where you get a lot of natural cave systems. And it’s not as if Giza is completely devoid of rain (especially in the ancient past before the Sahara desertified)
It may be a broken record, but you’re playing our song.
In high school I liked that Sigue Sigue Sputnik song from Ferris Beuller, so I bought the tape. Every song sounded just like that one.
Never let it be said that Trump is an advocate of free markets.
President Trump warned automakers not to raise prices due to tariffs, despite the increased costs they face.
Orangeman doesn’t understand basic economics.
I think he has a dim grasp of one of the bad side effects of tariffs: By “forcing” importers to raise prices to cover the tariff, it creates space, a moral hazard of sorts, for domestic industries to raise their prices as well. The hoped-for result of tariffs is moving volume/market share to domestic producers, not giving them a rent-seeking opportunity.
Of course, there’s fuck-all he can do about it other than lift the tariff, which would be an admission that it failed, which isn’t really Trump’s thing.
Nothing about Trump and tariffs is based on any kind of intellectual/rational thought.
Oy, that guy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-signal-fiasco-is-obscuring-an-essential-question-why-are-we-bombing-yemen/ar-AA1BMJVD?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=d7f0a1cce3c144f3b9bbf61d7e5d5059&ei=34
***
But in the widespread outrage over the sharing of military information on a Signal chat, one essential question is getting lost: why is Trump bombing Yemen in the first place? Five consecutive US presidents and administrations (George W Bush, Barack Obama, the first Trump administration, Joe Biden and the second Trump administration) have ordered military attacks on Yemen, which is the poorest country in the Middle East.
…
Collectively, these leaders have continued more than two decades of failed US policies toward Yemen, centered on repeated bombings, counter-terrorism operations and support for a dictator who ruled the country for decades. Trump, who portrayed himself throughout the last presidential campaign as “the candidate of peace”, appears almost eager to repeat past US mistakes in Yemen. During Yemen’s long civil war, years of intense bombing by two US allies – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – failed to dislodge the Houthis from power.
…
The most senior officials on Trump’s national security team did not seem to consider the idea of taking the Houthi leaders at their word: that they would cease disrupting global trade once Israel stops bombing Gaza, as they had done in January. Instead, the US security establishment continues bombing Yemen as it has done for two decades – and somehow hoping for a different outcome this time.
***
Lying liars lie, but dead bombers have difficulty attacking sea lanes.
The problem with Yemen is that bombing as deterrence only works if there is something to bomb that is valuable to those you want to deter. When your ‘nation’ is a
failed statespot on a map we pretend is a country because people get mad when you label areas as “inhabited by violent cretins who exist on the charity of those they attack,” the bombs are more valuable than what they blow up. See also Israel v HamasThat’s why it’s important to hit the violent cretins themselves.
Deterrance isn’t needed if you’ve wiped them out.
/Roman Peace.
Genocide is out of favor.
Quite the contrary, it’s ongoing worldwide.
Ok, fair reply. It is out of favor in the remnants of civilization, which may be a significant reason they are remnants rather than spreading. I’m just pointing out what would actually be required to make Yemen (or Gaza) peaceful.
We could always continue to hope that the residents suddenly decide to wake up one morning and embrace peaceful coexistance rather than radical jihadism.
While we’re at it, I have some bridges to peddle.
The Signal scandal or nonscandal is the point. They get the whole country taking sides and flinging poo over Signal and meanwhile nobody is asking anything about the conversation itself and wtf is our policy and goal with respect to Yemen.
Well, someone at least looks into it.
Dave Smith has been going on about that.
If it wasn’t for the Signal thing, the attack wouldn’t have received much attention from the press, and still isn’t the main story.
Don’t care. Did you attack a US flagged ship?
Five consecutive US presidents and administrations
Almost like it doesn’t matter who the president is!?!
Is there a morally relevant difference between the Houthis disrupting sea lanes and the US or another country imposing sanctions?
Lets see – one involves not doing business with someone specific, the other involves actively bombing ships at sea who committed the heinous sin of merely passing by.
Yeah, and the Lusitania was just a neutral passenger ship. Pay no attention to the fact that reason it sank so fast was because all the ammo on board exploded when the torpedo hit.
Sanctions have had fatal consequences, much more so than taking potshots at cargo ships carrying enemy commerce.
***
Undisputed UN figures show that 1.7 million Iraqi civilians died due to the West’s brutal sanctions regime, half of whom were children.
The mass death was seemingly intended. Among items banned by the UN sanctions were chemicals and equipment essential for Iraq’s national water treatment system.
***
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/unworthy-victims-western-wars-have-killed-four-million-muslims-1990
I’d say what the Houthis are doing is more ethical than the US sanctions against Iraq.
Aside from the fact that UN figures are suspect at the best of times, how does one rate “directly and intentionally attacking parties with less than zero connection to the conflict”?
If I took propaganda numbers about the impact of sanctions at face value, there should be less than nobody left in some parts of the world, despite there still being an abundance of them there.
Order, we are enforcing ORDER!!! They are the rules, that we create when it suits us.
OK, here’s one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike
***
On 3 October 2015, a United States Air Force AC-130U gunship attacked the Kunduz Trauma Centre operated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) in the city of Kunduz, in the province of the same name in northern Afghanistan.[3][4][5][6][7][8][excessive citations] 42 people were killed[2] and over 30 were injured. Médecins Sans Frontières condemned the incident, calling it a deliberate breach of international humanitarian law and a war crime. It further stated that all warring parties had been notified about the hospital and its operations well in advance.[9][10]
The United States military initially said the airstrike was carried out to defend U.S. forces on the ground. Later, the United States commander in Afghanistan, General John F. Campbell, said the airstrike was requested by Afghan forces who had come under Taliban fire. Finally, Campbell said the airstrike was a US decision, made in the US chain of command and not requested by Afghan forces. Campbell said the attack was “a mistake,” and, “We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility.”
***
“It was a bad call, Ripley. A bad call.”
Were the Khmer Rouge atrocities a hoax because they are still people in Cambodia?
@Derpy – In Re the hospital – Was it in fact being used as cover for combatants knowing the rules of engagement their foes operate under in the same manner Hamas uses them as command centers for propaganda value?
In re the numbers – I said the numbers were inflated. I’m not the one equating refusing to trade with somebody to going out and actively murdering them.
I doubt very much MSF was hosting or allowing Taliban fighters in that hospital, though I guess it’s possible. Aside from the innocent deaths, I’m also annoyed but not surprised that the US military tried to deflect their guilt.
From what I can tell, a dozen or two people have been killed at sea as a result of the Houthis. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people have been killed directly and indirectly by the US and its allies. It’s a similar story in Gaza, Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
My point is: waging endless war on a militia in a dirt-poor country makes us look both cruel and incompetent in addition to being a gigantic waste of money.
If your philosophy is might makes right, then any discussion of rules is irrelevant.
If two actions, however different, have the same consequences, how much of a difference do the methods and motives make?
Yeah, shooting someone by accident isn’t as bad as stabbing them on purpose, but either way, you get a corpse.
When I look at the body count, the Houthis do not look like the greater evil.
“Allow”? So did the MSF have armed guards to keep the gunmen out? If the guys with guns are trying to make use of your building for the big red and white “don’t shoot me” sign on the roof, allow rapidly becomes moot.
The question was – were they there using it to exploit the rules of engagement?
In both cases, with any sane foe “shoot the hostage” should make them stop relying so much on human shields, but they see the way it gets reported on and know that standing behind the civilians will let them keep doing their mischief while the blame lands on the retaliation.
*peruses yesterday’s posts*
Hmm, who knew broadband vs. fiber was a Glibs flashpoint
Like pizza and that casserole from the Midwest.
I know which joke you’re making and am torn between my agreement and wanting to make a hotdish joke in response.
By casserole, you mean Skyline chili?
UCS:
It’s a Friday in Lent, the appropriate casserole for today is tuna noodle.
R C Dean:
I think you mean Skyline “chili”.
Hey you can fit more than twice as much pineapple in a Chicago style pizza.
Pater Dean, who lives in rural Texas, has been on fiber for years now. They ran a trunk line down the road by his ranchette. I’m not sure they were really supposed to run a customer line from it to his house, but he can be persuasive. I’m thinking to may have been like when I got my driveway in rural Wisconsin paved – they were repaving highway in front of my house, and I asked them “Gosh, ya got enough asphalt to do my driveway while you’re out here?” Turned out, they did! I forget what the, erm, cash emolument was, but it was a hell of a lot cheaper than regular rates.
They seem to be pushing 5G — no fiber or regular cable.
So we’ve gone from radio, to broadcast TV, to cable TV, to cable internet, back to radio.
I’ve been on 5G wireless internet for a couple of weeks now. It’s been solid. They do throttle your speed down if you do “too much” streaming over a short-ish period of time (say, 2 back to back HD movies) but that’s at most a minor inconvenience.
That is a deal-breaker.
I pay for X bandwidth to be available, penalizing me for using it is unacceptable. Adjust your prices and/or your hardware if there is a problem.
“Broadway actress Betsy Wolfe had to read “The Star-Spangled Banner” lyrics from her phone during her performance at the New York Yankees’ opening-day game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday….
Wolfe is best known for her Tony-nominated role in “& Juliet.””
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/watch-broadway-actress-reads-national-anthem-lyrics-her/
I think I could sing the The Star-Spangled Banner just from hearing it so many times.
And?
I’ve got no problem with a cheat sheet for a live performance in a high pressure environment for something that’s just pomp.
I just tried to recall as much of the lyrics as I could from memory. I would definately fumble without a reference.
But for a professional stage actress?
Common Tater:
Pretty sure that opening day for the Yankees (spit) is a bigger stage than most Broadway plays. It’s not the primary focus, and she’s making sure she doesn’t stumble. Besides, don’t they put the words up on the jumbotron there?
::fistbumps Mr. Ilium::
GT:
Never forget!
I always find it amusing that our national anthem (a) uses the music from a drinking song and (b) is apparently designed to make singers look bad.
To be fair – A poem about an artillery barrage set to the tune of a drinking song is just about the most appropriate representation of this country you can get.
Using the music from a drinking song is about the most ‘Merican thing I can think of.
Theater kids may not do many sports things. What the judges are listening for is whether she committed the egregious but common sin of pronouncing a certain lyric as “per-o-lous.” 😖
It looked really good on paper and sounded really strong. However, reality can sometimes be a bitch.
France-U.K. Plan for European Troops in Ukraine Falters
Do you know who else liked deploying military formations that didn’t really exist?
Tabletop Wargamers?
They can probably deploy a light brigade, and end up as a thin red line.
Pope Pius XII?
They should ask the Turks to come along. If you’re reenacting the Crimean War bring the whole cast.
Erdogan’s too busy playing both sides to bother with that plus he’s not stupid.
A pair of spaniels wanting to make sure the doberman is backing them up?
WTF? Sigh…
Trump Pardons Nikola Founder Trevor Milton
Oh. Got it.
Oh I am so torn. He simply took money from stupid people.
After the Biden Pardon-o-rama I have no fucks to give.
Trump’s tariffs are going to increase the price of cars and trucks by thousands of dollars!
He has also opened the door to producing cheaper simpler cars (by changing regulations and ‘incentives”), if the manufacturers will step through it.
I hope they do.
I had previously wondered if the 2026 Maverick would be able to tow its own curb weight (the 2025 cannot, it weighs 3500 and has a listed tow capacity of 2000)
Yeah. I really like the form factor but the towing is abysmal. My wife’s compact Cherokee FWD can tow 3500. And it does it well. That Maverick has no excuse.
It has an excuse – they had to tune the engine to meet Biden’s fuel efficiency and particulate emissions standards. Robbed it of all the power.
I’m sure Ford has another motor they can swap into the design that will do better. But will they?
I will say this, based on a bit of real world experience: trailer towing is more about frame, brakes and suspension than having a powerful engine. I think engine tune is not a major issue here. I think how they built the suspension and brakes is the real problem.
Well then, they have no excuse.
As a further interesting point, that truck’s base engine has more HP and torque than than my wife’s Cherokee 6 cylinder 3.2 liter. So definitely it is suspension build.
What good is engine power if you can’t make use of it?
I’m going to need to take a shower, but I’ll defend the automakers.
1. Yes, they could do this but the lead time will be measured in years.
2. God know what the fuck the Orange Man will decide to change his mind on in the next 72 hours. I’m not about to make major capital outlays on anything he says.
That there is a blinding flash of the obvious. Of course the oblivious will miss it.
I look forward to buying a USA produced HiLux next year then.
Mexico was selling new VW Beetles for around $10K not too long ago.
Regulations are why cars are so expensive, all look the same, weigh a couple of tons, and barely have windows.
Nothing about Trump and tariffs is based on any kind of intellectual/rational thought.
The Diana Moon Glampers School of Economics.
Are we not doing phrasing?
‘His stamina isn’t there’: NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore’s wife shares his struggles of adjusting to gravity after space
Needs more vacuum.
It’s been 9 months lady!
Yes, they could do this but the lead time will be measured in years.
They don’t need to start with a clean sheet of paper. They obviously can’t just pull something out of their ass overnight, but they adjust production all the time.
Supply chains are really tight thanks to the McKinsey way.
Something as stupid as changing seats can fuck things up six months. Toyota and GM’s currently grenading motors are 6 months or longer for replacement.
Hard to believe Toyota screwed the pooch so badly. Do NOT buy a Tundra.
Promises kept?
Differing narratives about Trump’s presidency reflect the sharp divides in the country that have only been reinforced by the whiplash start to his second term. In many ways, the president is honoring promises he made on the campaign trail at an extraordinary clip. Video of deportations of undocumented migrants and alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador are an important metric of success to many Trump voters, even if they horrify human rights advocates. The president’s defense of US workers with tariffs is a direct response to the pain felt by his voters. And his assault on elites — from top universities to top law firms — with executive action is fulfilling the hopes of many MAGA voters for a takedown of the Washington establishment.
In an unprompted moment this week, Hegseth insisted, amid the recriminations of the Yemen text thread scandal, “I know exactly what I am doing.” Trump has been implicitly telling the country the same thing ever since reassuming office.
But a tumultuous week is leaving many Americans asking whether his determination to carry out his promises is leading the country down a risky road.
People voted for change, and they’re getting it. Some people like it more than others.
Something as stupid as changing seats can fuck things up six months.
You wouldn’t want parts interchangeability between models. That would be crazy.
It got us that pinnacle of GM, the Cadillac Cimarron!
No love for the Tucker?
I love the Tucker, but he was a swindler similar to Trevor Milton above.
I’ve read lots about his automobiles and his business. I’m the odd guy that is just as much interested in the business as I am the vehicles.
Does the so-called man on the street care about the “Signal chat” scandal? I highly doubt it.
“Go ahead, leak that info. Is that what you’re worried about? Tell those clowns we’re going to bomb the shit out of them if they don’t knock it the fuck off. It shouldn’t exactly come as a goddam surprise when it happens.”
I took the Jeopardy! entrance test and I think I did very well. Probably got 47 out of 50 right. They’ll contact me within 12 months if they want me to audition.
Yay me.
Do not open carry to the audition!
pinnacle of GM, the Cadillac Cimarron!
Badge engineering is as old as the hills. It doesn’t always make sense.
Agreed. I never understood GM’s approach.
I’d be OK with powertrains and hidden mechanicals being common. I’d want my models distinguished by material choice and design. Instead GM distinguished by powertrain and mechanical feature.
For me seats would be an example where I’d want custom seat to a brand and model. The owner interacts with them directly. So fit, finish, material choice and the like are reason to pay more for a Buick over a Chevy. Instead during peak GM cost cutting they decided that only Buicks get Ultra Cream Taupe color with special diagonal stitching bucket seats and thinks this will make buyers choose the Buick over a Chevy with same fucking seat frame. Maybe they add a lumbar support on the Buick. Wow!
So, about the unlikely, but nowhere near impossible, situation of Judge Boasberg getting two Trump admin cases:
Boasberg is the Chief Judge. There are 14 other district judges for the District of DC. Plus 10 senior status judges (one of whom is a visiting judge); senior judges pretty much get to pick and choose how many (and which?) cases they hear.
Not sure if Boasberg used his Chief Judge status to call dibs on either of these cases, but if so he did the other judges, and us, a favor. It seems likely that Congress will try to impeach him for the deportation ruling. It’s also likely he’ll fuck around on the Signalgate case. Far easier and less politically damaging to impeach one judge for multiple causes than multiple judges each for a single cause.
E-mail just sent to your glibs account
Thanks. I’ll check later.
Elder statesperson weighs in
Hillary Clinton on Friday called the Trump administration’s approach to governing both dumb and dangerous in an essay excoriating the Signal chat scandal and the Elon Musk-led mission to slash the federal workforce, and concluding that Trump would make the US “feeble and friendless”.
The former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate wrote an op-ed for the New York Times that has been given the headline: “How much dumber will this get?” and opens: “It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity.”
Clinton starts with the Signal chat group scandal, when Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, mistakenly added a top US journalist to a small group of government leaders on the encrypted but unclassified app and then the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, proceeded to discuss intricate details of a forthcoming airstrike on Houthi militants in Yemen and report back to the group on the deadly results.
Bring back the grownups!
+1 Giant Reset Button
Clinton sharply criticized the slashing of the federal workforce that has been under way since the first days of the new administration, overseen by the top Trump adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk, although she did not mention the mogul by name or comment on the growing oligarchy that is alarming many outside the White House.
Clinton especially criticized the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development – a so-called soft power program introduced by John F Kennedy as president to help spread American influence around the world through human rights work, in contrast to military and diplomatic power alone.
“In a dangerous and complex world, it’s not enough to be strong. You must also be smart. As secretary of state during the Obama administration, I argued for smart power, integrating the hard power of our military with the soft power of our diplomacy, development assistance, economic might and cultural influence,” she wrote.
Just look at Libya. That’s how you do it.
For me seats would be an example where I’d want custom seat to a brand and model.
That’s certainly a legitimate argument. I was thinking more in terms of mounting points and structure. You shouldn’t have to conjure up a seat from scratch.
*Of course, I don’t see the need for 36-way power adjustability with heating, cooling and massage, and six built in speakers with a wide screen teevee in the headrest, resulting in a 280 pound seat costing $3500.
Manufacturer cost. When it breaks out of warranty it’s $10k and on six month backorder.
“So let me introduce you to your division-leading Chicago White Sox. I may not get to say that for another year, but this morning I can.”
I stumbled upon a factoid about my home team. If the Rockies win today, it will be the first time they’ve been above .500 since April 2, 2023.